What is the Estimated Energy Requirement (EER) Calculator?

It calculates this number based on your gender, age, weight, height, and activity levels. So, it’s basically a simple way to know how many calories need to be consumed per day to balance out energy expenditure for healthy, normal-weight individuals.

If you want to lose or gain weight, this calculator can be used as a caloric starting point of which you can then determine how many calories you need to reduce or add to either lose or gain weight, respectively. However, it’d be more accurate to use our daily calorie calculator for short term goals or our calorie calculator for more long term goals unless you really know your body.

There are only four activity level options to choose from after you’ve typed in your basic stats and now you know what we mean when we say this is a simple calculator and is by no means a super accurate number. It doesn’t take into account the rest of your potential daily activities which may include weight training, sports, running, etc. Although, for most healthy individuals, the calculations should be an acceptable estimation of EER in its simplest form.

The 4 activity factors include:

Sedentary – Desk job

Lightly Active – Climbing stairs

Moderately Active – Salesman

Very Active – Soldier

The tool uses a formula based on the (IOM) Institute of Medicine equations, used for the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and the new food pyramid, MyPyramid. IOM equations use experiments based on doubly labeled water (A more accurate method for measuring total energy expenditure).

Estimated Energy Requirement

When understanding the formulas for EER it’s important to know the difference between the ‘physical activity coefficient’ (PA) and ‘Physical Activity Levels’ (PAL) if doing your own calculations. PA is based on ranges of physical activity levels to give an energy estimate while PAL is the ratio of total energy expenditure to basal energy expenditure (TEE/BEE).

In other words, it takes into consideration the basal metabolic rate or metabolism based on your basic information to determine total daily energy expenditure.

These are the PAL ranges:

Sedentary (PAL 1.0-1.39)

Lightly Active (PAL 1.4-1.59)

Moderately Active (PAL 1.6-1.89)

Very Active (PAL 1.9-2.5)

The PAL formula is total energy expenditure in a 24-hour period divided by basal metabolic rate.

The Centers for Disease Control recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week or 75 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity exercise, or an equivalent combination of both, with strengthening activities done at least twice per week for optimal health. (1)

Feel free to use the calculator to get a relatively accurate estimate of how many calories you’ll need to consume per day to maintain your current daily activity levels based on your most basic stats. Then from there, you can determine everything else.

Frequently Asked Questions For EER

What is the EER calculator?

It’s a tool used for determining the estimated energy requirement for maintaining energy balance based on several factors such as based on your gender, age, weight, height, and activity levels in healthy, normal-weight individuals.

What's the function of the EER calculator?

The estimated energy requirement calculator uses a formula based on the Institute of Medicine to determine how many calories one needs to consume each day to maintain their healthy body weight.

Can the EER calculator help me to lose weight?

The estimated energy requirement calculator can help you to lose weight however, it only gives the caloric amount that’s necessary to maintain your current bodyweight.

But you can subtract calories from this number which would put you in an energy deficit that is conducive to weight loss.

How accurate is the ERR calculator?

The estimated energy requirement calculator is not entirely accurate as there can be other variables that will ultimately determine your exact energy requirements to support your daily activities.

Matthew Magnante is the senior writer for Fitness Volt. He has had a passion for fitness since elementary school and continues to research and learn how to build muscle effectively through training and diet. He also loves to help others to achieve their fitness goals and spread the knowledge where needed. Matthew's other passions include learning about mindfulness, strolling through nature, and always working to improve overall.

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